Scrum Masters should plan on spending 4 hours on average preparing for the retrospective. A new Scrum Master should plan to spend more time preparing, The better you prepare for the retrospective the more effective it will be. 

Spend time visualizing the session and how you may deal with issues as they arise;

• How will you park issues that may take the team off-track?
• What will you do if team members argue?
• What can you do if a team member does not want to speak up?
• How will you mitigate a team member who is more long-winded (talks too much)?
• What will you do if you run out of time?
• What will you do if a team member starts criticizing another team member?
• What will you do if a team member is confrontational?

Before you select exercises for the retrospective think about what stage the team is in group development and what may assist them most.

Tuckman's stages of group development;
Forming: Is this a new team forming, getting to know each other and how to work together? Storming: Is this team in the ‘storming’ phase shown by a rise in conflicts among team members? 
Norming: Is the team starting to accept each other’s differences and resolving previous clashes? 
Performing: Are the team’s goals and roles established? Are team members motivated, competent and autonomous? 

Here is a sample outline to help create an effective retrospective 
Output: A Retrospective Action Item

1. Check In (10 min.) 
2. Review what happened during the last sprint. (5-10 min.) 
   1. Review major blockers & achievements from the last sprint 
   2. Present Metrics 
   3. Update on status of previous retrospective action item 
3. Main Body - Identify Issues and / or strengths (30 min) 
4. Consolidate findings and select a retrospective action item to work on in the next sprint. (10 min) 
5. Closing (5 min)

Check-ins: 
A good way to start a retrospective is with a short check in. This can help get the team thinking about the last sprint, help you understand the energy in the room and help the team get to know each other better. 
 

Note: Once a person has spoken in a meeting, they are more likely to speak again. 
 

Example Check-in 1: One Word 

• Ask the team to think about the previous iteration and select one word to describe it.
• Alternative
  Use a metaphor. Ask the team
  If last sprint was a (vehicle, animal, movie, food) what would it be?
  Make sure to give team members a few minutes to think of their word. Go around the room and have each team member say their word. Do not enter into a discussion when they say their word.

Example Check-in 2: Questions in a Hat

1. Fill a hat with pieces of paper with a question on each piece. 
2. Pass the hat around and ask participants to grab one piece of paper. 
3. As a facilitator, ask him/her to read the question out loud and answer it in two sentences or less then move to the next person, and so on, until each person has answered his/ her question. 
4. This exercise can be used multiple times. 

Sample questions; 

• If there was one goal you could accomplish in your lifetime what would it be?
• Who is your hero (parent, celebrity, influential person) and why. 
• If they made a movie about your life what could be a title? 
• What is your favorite cartoon character and why? 
• If you could visit any place in the world where would you go and why?
• If you could be anyone besides yourself who would you be and why?
• If you could live in any sitcom which one would it be? 
• List something interesting the team may not know about you. 
• If you hosted a talk show who would be your three guests and why? 
• What book has influenced you the most? 
• If you got a tattoo what would it say or what image would be on it? 

Retrospective Main Body Example 1: Sailboat: Anchors & Engines 2

When to use this: This exercise is especially good for teams to see the big picture of what is going on; vision, impediments, risks and drivers. 

1. Draw a picture of a boat, anchor, island, rocks and cloud/wind. 
2. Ask the participants to write sticky notes and place them on the following areas
   1. Anchors: What is holding us back, or slowing us down? 
   2. Islands: Represent goals/visions 
   3. Rocks: Represent risks they might encounter 
   4. Wind/Cloud: Represent things that push us forward. 
3. Give the team 10-15 minutes to think and write. 
4. Hold a discussion on each area and then let the team decide on the most important issue slowing them down. If they cannot decide on one then have the team vote. 
5. Hold a discussion on the steps to take in order to fix the problem. 
6. Select a few actionable items then size them to ensure they can fit into one sprint. 
7. Select the item the team finds highest in value and small enough to complete in the next sprint. 

Retrospective Main Body Example 2: Car 
 

When to use this: This exercise is especially useful in helping team members become aware of each other's’ different perspectives. 

1. Ask the team; “If you think about this iteration as a car brand, which brand would you choose?” (Example - if it went perfect maybe it would be a ferrari or a lamborghini)
2. Give the team a couple minutes to think about their answer. 
3. Ask them to reveal what car they chose. Only have them answer with the name - hold off discussions around choices. 
4. Next using sticky notes have each member write their answers for; “What changes would you make to this car to turn it into your dream car?” (one answer per note)
5. Give team members time to write down their choices. 
6. First team member posts sticky notes on the board and reads them out loud.
7. Next team member reads their notes and posts theirs next to any note that is similar. 
8. Select a few actionable items then size them to ensure they can fit into one sprint.
9. Select the item the team finds highest in value small enough to complete in the next sprint. 

How to pick 1 retrospective item to work on for the next sprint 
 

The purpose of the retrospective is to implement a feedback loop for the process. Frequently, the team will create a list of items to work on and we then need to help the team choose one to implement in the next sprint.

Here are a few ways to do this. Before you start, make sure the items selected are small enough to complete in one sprint if they are not break them down or capture them to work on in the next retrospective. 
 

Dot voting 

1. Participants are each given a set number of dot stickers. 
2. They place dot stickers next to options presented that they like. 
3. Options with the most dots “win”. 

Silent ordering 

• Participants are each take turns taking the story they feel is the highest priority and placing it above the other options. 
• This method quickly filters a long list to a few that are the team’s favorite. 

Closing: 

It is good practice to have a check out to assess the energy in the room at closing and how successful this session felt for the participants. This should be quick and can be non-verbal.

Fist of Five 
On the count of 3 hold up 1 to 5 fingers. 
1 = This was a waste of time and 5 = this was extremely valuable. 

Jump Vote 
Everyone stand up. On the count of 3 jump to signify how useful this meeting was; 
Sit = not useful at all, stand = somewhat, jump = extremely useful 

Thumb Vote 
On the count of 3 everyone signify by using your thumb how valuable you felt this meeting was; 
Thumb up = useful meeting, Thumb sideways = meh, Thumb down = waste of time